Helen's Blog

On January 26th, 2009, Minnesota lost a Hero. Chief Warrant Officer 3 Philip Windorski Jr. gave his life in Iraq. Homes for Heroes sends our sincerest condolences to CWO3 Windorski’s wife and 3 children. We are truly sorry for your loss and sacrifice. May God bless you and guide you through this difficult and trying time. This nation owes you our gratitude for your husbands sacrifice.

When I heard of CWO3 Windorski’s death I wanted to know more about him. I am not sure that you realize this, but the rank of Warrant Officer is something that is not lightly handed out in the Military. Out of 2.5 million men and women in the military only 25,000 hold the rank of Warrant Officer. There is a long tradition, starting in 1918, of using the rank of Warrant Officer to those who had special talents that did not fall into the normal duties of the military. This rank was and still is reserved for those that are considered experts in a technical field. The U.S. Department of Defense describes the Warrant Officer as such “The warrant officer is a highly skilled technician who is provided to fill those positions above the enlisted level which are too specialized in scope to permit effective development and continued utilization of broadly trained, branch qualified commissioned officers.” For more info try this site and this one.

Philip Windorski enlisted in the Army right out of High School in 1991. Seven short years later he was accepted into the Warrant Officer Program. After graduating from the program WO Windorski enrolled into the Army’s Helicopter flight training school. In 1999 CWO3 Windorski was a commissioned pilot flying the Army’s OH58D Kiowa Warrior.

CWO3 Windorski was assigned to the 6th Squadron, 6th Cavalry Regiment, 10th Combat Aviation Brigade, 10th Mountain Division, Fort Drum New York in 2007. Or as history will remember them since the Civil War, the “Six Shooters”. The mission of the Six Shooters is; On Order, 6th Squadron 6th Cavalry deploys worldwide to conduct offensive operations, tactical reconnaissance, and limited security operations in support of the ground maneuver commander. On order, command and control an Aviation Task Force. To visit their web site go here.

In other words, their job is to fly a small lightly armed helicopter into enemy operational areas, find them and engage. Then when the ground troops arrive provide close air support. Not a job for the light hearted.

His friends have put up a face book page that is dedicated to his memory. The lives he has touched is truly a testament to his love for his family and country. You are an impressive man CWO3 Windorski. May God Bless you and your family.

I think we have ninjas in our office. Homes for Heroes is a small office and we all know each other pretty well. So it is hard for me to believe that one of them is a ninja. But I have no other explanation. This morning I arrive at my desk and turn on my computer. I get up and mosey on over to the the new kitchen and pour my self a cup of coffee. The kitchen is only 4 feet away and in complete view of my desk. When I return to my desk, I set down my mug of brew and turn on my monitor. The monitor comes on but “no video present” is all it says. I am the first one in so I know that no one could have turned off my computer. I push the power button on again and get up to see if there is any one lurking in the shadows. I see no one but I feel a breeze across my face and turn back to the desk. The computer has been turned off again.

If that is how it is going to be, I say out loud, then let the duel begin. I myself have studied the ways of the Ninja and am not afraid to stare at the face of death. I quickly make my self unseen and change into my ninja outfit. Using ninja stealth, I reach my desk undetected and take a position underneath it. With a ninja masters grace I turn on the computer. I watch the power button for 3 full minutes, waiting to catch the office ninja in the act.

My plan is simple. When the office ninja reaches over to turn off my computer I will secretly sprinkle onto his hand my special ninja detection dust. I will let the ninja come out of disguise and resume his or her role as office worker. I will then make my way around the office and with my ninja trained eye sight, I will detect which office worker is the ninja.

Nothing, no sign of office ninja trying to turn my computer off. I may not have discovered who the office ninja is, but I did foil his/her attempt to turn off my computer again. I relax and come out of my hiding spot to take a look at my monitor. As my head rises over the desk top I am immediately distracted. My boss is standing there with hands on hips asking me, “just what in the h#$@ are you doing?”

I gain my composure as I notice that the computer is still not on. I explain to my boss that there is a rogue ninja in our midst and I was just trying expose and keep him/her from turning off my computer. She listens, then bends down and plugs my computer into a power source. There is your ninja, she says as she walks back to her office. Darn! Office ninja won’t trick me again, I think to myself as I reach over and successfully turn on my computer. 

Who gets nervous when you are being followed by a police officer? Let’s say you are driving down the road minding your own business. You glance up in your mirror just in time to see a police car pull in behind you. If you are like me, you go into a an immediate and chaotic panic. I check my speed, I make sure I not only use my turn signals when I make a lane change, I use hand signals. I don’t dare look over to my passenger for fear it will be reason to be pulled over. Heck, I get so nervous I signal when my car wanders close to the line on the road.

I mention this because I read this article. Police in Florida are pulling over drivers to give them tickets for driving well. The tickets are gift certificates to the local pizza joint. My first reaction was positive, thinking this is a great way to stir up public support for the police. Then I started to think about it. How would you feel if you came to a complete stop, the take your turn passing through a 4-way stop, only to be pulled over by the cop behind you. I do not think I would be in a calm and relaxed state wondering why I was being pulled over. I know I would be very agitated and quite possibly let out a string of obscenities when police officer arrived at my door. I might even say “screw it” and take off, justifying the bold action by my faith in my innocence.

I would be on the news in a high speed chase, my blood pressure rising with every mile driven. Soon the old ticker starts to sputter and I pull over hoping for a quick ride to the emergency room. As the car stops, 934 police rush the car, jerk me out and slam me to the ground. As I protest my innocence and my urgent medical needs, one officer bends down and hands me a slip of paper. “Sir I just wanted to give you this certificate for a free pizza. You did a complete stop back at the 4-way and I just wanted to thank you for your safe driving.

I take the offering and thank the officer as the light fades from my vision………..

In this troubled housing market, home buyers and sellers are dealing more and more with banks. Repossessions and short sales are requiring the banking market to become more directly involved in the sale of a home. I hope to point out some of the potential pitfalls when dealing with short sales and bank owned properties. Homes for Heroes have a couple that has pretty much experienced every thing you can when dealing with a short sale.

Fresh and ready to take the challenge. Short Sales.

Let’s call them Katie and Steve, they are the perfect American couple. Both are members of the National Guard and Police Officers of a large metro city. They both have done tours of duty in Bosnia and Iraq. They approached Homes for Heroes looking to buy a house. They came to us because they had made an offer on a “short sale” home and waited for a response. Then waited some more. Then made a couple of phone calls. Then waited. After waiting they waited some more. Finally they got in the car and drove past the home they wished to own. Only to find it was inhabited by someone else who had purchased the home! How could that happen? Didn’t they offer the bank a legal commitment that by law would obligate them to purchase if accepted by the bank? How could they look for another home with that offering sitting out there? Shouldn’t the bank at least reject the offer by signature or at least by phone call so they could legally look for another home? This happened to them last winter. But read on, there is more fun to come.

By law, if you are a licensed Realtor, and you do not respond to a legal offer on a home you would be in violation of the law and would lose your state license. The bank, however, is not regulated by the same law and has no obligation to anyone offering to purchase the property. Keep this in mind when making an offer with a short sale. The patience of a sniper will be required, meaning you will be waiting for days on end just to get a hint of what the bank is doing with your offer.

Back to Katie and Steve. Working with their Homes for Heroes agent they set out looking for homes. The first home they looked at they loved. A tribute to a good Realtor. They looked at several others but kept coming back to the first home they saw. It was in the area they wanted to live, it was the style and size they wanted, it was on a cul-de-sac… I could go on but I think you get the idea. It was everything they wanted and where they wanted it. So they sat down with their agent and started to put together a purchase agreement. While working with their Homes for Heroes mortgage affiliate they found that they qualified for the asking price of the home but it would stretch their budget a little bit more than they expected. Being smart buyers, they passed on their dream home. They did not want to be in a position where they had to decide whether to pay the house payment or buy groceries. Plus they wanted to add to the family. Yes, they wanted to have puppies!!

Another round of house hunting took place and they had found their second dream home. Another tribute to the Realtor, she sure did know her clients. This was not as grand as their dream home but it was very close and met all their criteria. They decided they would make an offer on this home. The Realtor made a call to the listing agent and made it known that she would soon be bringing an offer to the table. She asked for the owner’s property disclosure and it was faxed over promptly. While reviewing the disclosure, she discovered that the offer would be subject to bank approval. That is the code words for “short sale”.

Helen, (the stunning and remarkable Realtor) set about to educate Katie and Steve that buying a “short sale” home was not a terrible thing as long as knew up front not to expect anything to happen with any sort of urgency. It was going to take longer than a normal sale because the banks are not Realtors or buyers and do not fully understand the concept of expediency. This was reflected in the offer by giving the bank 60 days to agree to the offered price. The offer they put together was good and solid. They saw no reason why the bank would balk at it or deny it. It was a full price offer with a pre-approved mortgage. Helen submitted the offer to the listing agent, who also agreed, it was a good offer and the bank should have no problem approving it. After all the bank had approved the listing price prior to the owner putting the house on the market.

In a normal real estate transaction, the home owner will receive the offer and either accept, counter or reject the offer within 24 to 48 hours, most of the time by the next day. A week went by with no response. Helen had called the listing agent for an update. “The bank has it and have not provided me with any further information.” Was the response. “Will you call me as soon as you hear anything, good or bad.” Helen requested then ended the call. She picked up the phone to let Katie and Steve know what was going on. Only having to wait one week the sniper patience was not marred. They accepted the update because they knew that the bank would get to it when they got to it.

Another week goes by. Update is the same as before. Katie and Steve are not too worried. They want to be in their new home by Christmas and it is only mid October. They wanted to close by December 1 as stated in the Purchase Agreement. The bank still had 6 weeks to get things wrapped up. Over the course of the next few weeks, Katie and Steve had put an ad in the paper to lease their town home. The ad stated it would be available January 2. That gave Katie and Steve a full month to get the place cleaned up for the new tenants.

About 4 weeks after putting in their offer, they got their first puppy. They named it after the base they were at in Iraq. They would take the puppy over to the new neighborhood to get used to the new smells. The updates to date were pretty much the same. It was now November 2 and Katie and Steve were wondering if they could start packing some of the non-essential items in preparation for their big move.

Helen would call the listing agent with more frequency to see if the bank could at least let them know if they should start looking for another home. Katie and Steve have signed a lease with a nice couple to move into their current residence. They were now legally obligated to be out of their town home by January 2. This time the update was a little different and offered a little bit of hope. The bank said everything was moving along fine and they should be able to close by December 1. This was the first acknowledgment from the bank that they had accepted the offer. With this information Katie and Steve let their worries take a back seat and they started to pick up the pace on their moving plans.

The week of Thanksgiving Helen had still not received a time and place for closing. With the holiday coming up and family gatherings to attend, they needed to know when and where they would be signing all the paperwork. The bank responded by confirming a time and place in the afternoon of December 1st. Katie and Steve confirmed the date with friends that would be helping them move and start packing in earnest to be ready for the truck they had reserved.

Morning of December 1, Helen receives a call from the listing agent telling her that the closing will have to be moved to December 7. The reason was that while the bank was going through the title work they found that the second mortgage on the home had been mistakenly recorded as the first. What this means is that with this mistake the bank could not legally approve of the sale because they were not technically the primary mortgage holder. They were working on getting that fixed and expected it to be fixed within the week. This was the first time Katie and Steve, upon hearing the news, showed how thin their patience was running. They had to call all their friends and reschedule in hopes that all could still make it. They also did not look forward to living out of boxes for the week. But as disciplined soldiers, they sucked it up and made good of a bad situation.

December 7, another call in the morning to Helen telling her that the two banks still have not settled on how the proceeds of the “short” sale would be split. The primary mortgage was smaller than the second mortgage and the second mortgage holder was trying to get the lion’s share of the proceeds. The primary mortgage holder seemed to think they had the upper hand because if the home went into foreclosure the second mortgage holder would get nothing and they were using that as a big lever. At this point Helen was starting to lose a professional attitude and was agonizing over how to tell Katie and Steve again their home would not be available again. Katie and Steve took the news very well, they asked when would they be able to sign, but this time if the date was missed they wanted the bank to know they would cancel the purchase agreement. The listing agent was made aware and offered to let Katie and Steve move in now and worry about the “paperwork” later. Helen advised this could be risky especially with the way the two banks could not come to an agreement. Katie and Steve declined to move and put everything on hold until they were holding title in hand.

A couple of days before Christmas there was still no agreement. On the 23rd the listing agent called Helen to inform her that the banks had made and agreement and they would try to close on the 26th. This would be cutting it short for Katie and Steve but they agreed and made plans for the 26th.

The 26th came and went without a closing. On January 2 Katie and Steve canceled their purchase agreement, much to the dismay of the listing agent. During this whole ordeal interest rates had dropped and with a buy down on the interest rate from the owner, Katie and Steve were able to put together a purchase agreement for their original dream home. They sent over the paper work and it was accepted and signed within 24 hours. Actually the whole deal took about 4 hours to put together and the waiting was just to see the signed papers. They moved in a week later and today they signed and received title for their dream home.

After a year and 2 failed short sales, Katie and Steve finally get a closing.

What happened to the 2nd choice? The home went into foreclosure, the second mortgage holder received nothing and the primary mortgage holder ended up selling the home for $170,000 less than the offer they had in hand. It just proves that they do not understand the whole concept of selling homes.

What is the difference between a short sale and a bank owned property? This is good information to know. It will help you with the trials and tribulations one may experience when dealing with banks. Bank owned means the home has gone through foreclosure proceedings and the title is legally and solely the banks. They have a house that is theirs and they pay the taxes and utilities on the property. The previous owner usually leaves the home in poor condition when they abandon the home. At times even taking the plumbing as they move out. These are a good deal on the market but often fall into the “fixer upper” category.

A short sale is when the owners of the home wish to sell the home but the market price will not cover the mortgage they own on the home. The owners notify the bank that they will not be able to cover the mortgage on the sale and ask the bank to cover any difference. If the bank agrees the home goes on the market as a “short” sale. The owners may or may not work with a Realtor and any offer they receive is sent to the bank for final approval. In the “short” sale the bank is trying to limit the amount of loss on the mortgage.

I think it is a safe bet to conclude that banks prefer short sales to foreclosures because at least they recoup a larger portion of their mortgage and during the sale process are not paying out money for taxes and utilities. The down side to this is the bank is not under any contract with a real estate company during the sale. The upside for the buyer on a “short sale” is that the home is usually in better shape than a home that is in foreclosure. The upside on a foreclosed home purchase is that it can be had a bargain prices and you are dealing with a licensed real estate company that has to follow the established rules. And always keep in mind, a short sale does not necessarily mean short time frame. The best scenario in these bizarre times (if at all possible) is to find a real seller! These people are waiting to work with you and are MOTIVATED. They have adjusted their selling price to compete with the banks. (Remember, the home has to appraise, and right now the appraisers have to be very careful, and use bank owned or short-sale proprieties in the immediate subject area for comps when arriving at the appraised value for your new home loan. Good Luck!

I have been putting up stuff on this page for a couple of months now. From these entries one might get the impression that I spend my day at the Homes for Heroes office doing my best to annoy others. For those that think this you are pretty close to the truth. When the Homes for Heroes Foundation was conceptualized we agreed that this blog would be a look at the lighter side of life in uniform. I took this to heart and have been doing my utmost to be light hearted and happy all the time. This comes at a price though, my colleagues aren’t always happy, and my sense of humor is not always contagious. In fact, at times, it can be down right unbearable.

Think of what the staff has to go through. The staffs first job is matching our Heroes with our affiliated real estate agents and mortgage brokers. This national program provides the Hero with 25% of the agents commission and half off the origination fee on the mortgage. That is a substantial amount of money when buying or selling a home. Using the Homes for Heroes program will put thousands in your pocket at closing. I don’t think there is any other full service program that offers this kind of savings. Add to that we are a national program. That means the staff is quite busy. Now add the Homes for Heroes Foundation into the mix. The staff fields calls from Heroes that are looking for some help for situations that are out of their control. A Hero in Maine is in Iraq right now and needs some one to winterize his home. Another Hero has been stationed from New York to Colorado and the NY landlord will not let them out of their lease causing all sorts of financial issues. Another Hero is looking for some help in getting an attached garage built because he can’t get into his car from his wheel chair now.

From time to time I will see one of our staff hanging up the phone and wiping away a tear. I know some of these calls can be very emotional. These Heroes are not looking for handouts, they are just trying to deal with what life has dealt them. It can be hard to watch some one dealing with hardships like it was any other day. Listening to a Hero who is wheel chair bound and can’t finish a house hold project that will enable him to take care of his family nor will his pay and benefits cover the cost is frustrating and taxing. The Homes for Heroes Foundation does what it can to help, but our hearts go out to those who gave it all and now have to struggle just to get by.

Now add me. They take the calls while I guffaw at YouTube videos. Then I ask them to interrupt their work and come take a look at what was so funny. We don’t have a big staff and they have a lot of work to do. I put together the blog and update the web site. That is pretty much what I do.when I am not showing  homes.I need to keep the blog light and do a lot of research coming up with strange and wonderful things to write about. Sometimes it easy and other times it is inspiring. Thus, the annoyance factor. I recently saw a couple of videos that turned soda and beer cans into a stove. Well I had to try it out to see if it worked. I ask a colleague to finish a soda so I can have the can, I grab the scissors from another to cut the can. While they are working I am cooking water at my desk with my new camping stove. I have mentioned before where I have taken a mouse pad from a colleague and turned it into a wrist pad. I suppose one might wonder just what the heck I do?

I do spread the word on what a great program Homes for Heroes is. To be sure, I attempt do it with a sense of humor. Check them out. They are a real program with a real concern for our Heroes. The Homes for Heroes will take your calls and answer your questions, while I will wait for them to turn there backs so I can turn their desk lamp into a drink warmer

If you are a person that has a hard time living for short periods with out TV, pay attention. In this blog I will show you the technology to use house hold products to keep your TV running during a power outage. I tried it at the Homes for Heroes office, it worked, but I have been forbidden to ever do it again. Reduce, Reuse, Recycle is my only defense. Read on to see why they had such a hard time with my project.

Most of this weeks blogs has been dealing with space saving and recycling. I am going to continue with this topic today and perhaps some more next week. I must confess, I started this tongue and cheek and that will continue, but there is a whole world of simple things that can be done that I find myself amazed at. Easy things we can all do that does not take a lot of skill. I know my husband has had his fill of this stuff. Especially when I start rummaging through the kitchen looking for stuff to make our next table lamp with. I got the idea from GreenProphet

.

Don't throw that doll away sweety, daddy is making a lamp!

Don’t you think one of these would look neat in the living room? So far I have a couple pieces tupperware, an old rolling pin and a rusty flour sifter. My husband is glad I have “reduced” clutter in the kitchen but as I sit at the kitchen table stacking this stuff he gives me the look that says there will be no “recycling” of that crap in his house.

This next item falls into the “reduce” category. Take a look and guess what it is. If you think you walk with it, you are on the right track. Is it an artsy pedometer? Nope. Is it road line painter? Nope. I will give you a hint. Music. Is it an MP3 player? Nope, but close. Tired of hearing me guess for you? Okay. It is a portable battery charger for your iPod. As you stroll down the office hall you never have to worry about your iPod losing power. Would it work for a cell phone? Good question, not sure. Do you want me to find out? Yeah I’m not that interested either. I am not going to walk god knows how far to charge my iPod or cell phone. But if you are seriously into the carbon foot print thing, this is a must have item.

15 songs to the mile is pretty good mileage.

Need extra storage in your basement? This next idea is something that when I saw it I said “duh!” Why didn’t I think of that? This is a great idea and I have implemented it down in my work shop.

Those wine boxes work perfect for this. Not that I drink that much wine.

This next idea I love but my spouse is not sold on it yet. All those old and out dated suit cases that are sitting up in the attic are potential medicine cabinets or kitchen cabinets. I don’t think it will work with the newer canvas type bags. Maybe in a teens room. Heck, if you do it right, it could double as both cabinet and suitcase. I will let you know how my endeavors work out.

From the bathroom to the plane with no packing!

How many out there have young kids? Do you hate coming up with ways to keep them busy for more than 10 minutes. Well, I think you will like this next “reuse” project. Just give the kids the instructions and materials and tell them not to come back in until after lunch is finished. Be sure not to give them any snacks before hand. Hunger is a mighty motivator. Yes I am talking about having your kids make a solar oven to cook lunch in. All they need is an old pizza box, aluminum foil, black construction paper, plastic wrap and something to cook. I tried this with the Homes for Heroes staff. I told them lunch was on me and they were all excited, but when a couple of hours had past and the hot dogs were still not quite done. Like I said, it will keep the kids busy for a long time. Time enough to sneak in a bath…. For full instructions check out the step by step instructions here.

Cook eggs faster than the sidewalk with this nifty oven.

Now is the time you have all been waiting for, how to keep your TV running when there the power is out. I had to segue to it. What segue you ask? Ready?

Speaking of baths, if you have an old bath tub, wiring, some metal plates and about 30 gallons of tomato soup, you have everything you need to keep your TV running during power outages. Hats off to the inventor. Try to put yourself in this inventors mind as he/she was thinking this up. “Mmmmmm, what can I do to “reuse” this bathtub and how do I get rid of these cases of tomato soup?” It actually works and now you can see why my comrades did not appreciate me lugging an old bath tub into the office and filling it up with tomato soup. Though, one person did pick up the game controller and play pac man. To see more of this fine piece of work visit this site.

One other thing to keep in mind is that if you are sprayed with a skunk you can shut the TV off for just a little while.

My colleagues from Homes for Heroes are starting to see my arrival at the office with disdain. With the good response I got on my previous blog about recycling I have been doing a lot of research. Yesterday I spent some time looking for more ideas to share with you readers. Some of those you saw yesterday and I will have some more for you soon. But what you don’t realize is that the staff at Homes for Heroes is getting a little tired of me taking their mouse pads, cutting them up and making them new cup coasters, or cutting up latex gloves and using them as large rubber bands to hold plastic bags in place on garbage cans. I do want to be accurate in what I write about. I have some photo’s of stuff I did a staffers computer. They do not appreciate being green. But I will keep working on them.

Now keep in mind, the following photos were not destruction of my colleagues computer, it was reuse of a computer. He was scheduled for a new one this month and he was on vacation. Our office pet now has a new home thanks to Jerry’s old monitor. I don’t think Jerry or the office realizes that in Minneapolis you can no longer just throw out your old CRT monitor, you have to recycle it. Well I saved some land fill space and “Opie” has a new radical looking home

Opie loves his new digs.

What to do with the computer itself, well, we had a barbecue. The case held the coals quite nicely. I think it will be around for many company picnics in the future.

I just borrowed the grill from the old bbq for the burgers.

This is something I saw also, but using bicycle inter tubes. The neat thing about using the ribbon cable is that you can adjust the wire down to fit that belt buckle you have lying in the junk drawer.

For some reason my husband thinks I look like a fool with this on.

The toughest part of this whole reuse deal, was trying to figure out what to do with the keyboard. At first I thought it would be a good toy for the youngsters, till I found out it is one of the dirtiest objects in the world. So I started to take the thing apart. Still nothing. Last resort, do the Google. I was inspired by the next photo. I was going to make a tribute to the world of reuse.

You have to admit, it is a nice piece.

This is what I came up with.

For some reason, no one wanted this on their desk.

After asking everyone twice if they wanted this nice sculpture and being politely declined twice, I figured that it wasn’t that magnificent after all. I broke it down and after some rummaging around the office I found an old bottle of rubber cement and let my idea take form. I thought it was cool,  How do women pick one, too many styles. One big bag or one with a lot of pockets>

The idea was not appreciated.

As you can see, a little imagination, a little bit of time and little bit of rubber cement can turn something you were going to throw away into a whole bunch of useful objects to use around the house. I think tomorrow I will look into what you can do with old blenders or some other household appliance. If you have any ideas or something you have reused, get it to me. The office does not respond to my questions anymore.

Any one in " the trades " or anyone not afraid of rolling their sleeves up and working.  We are coordinating the construction of a garage for a disabled Iraq Vet. He is purchasing at an unbelievable price with help of a neighborhood revitalization program, but cannot afford the added cost of a garage on his limited income. As you know....it snows in South Dakota. He has many accessories (scooter, walkers, etc.) that enable him to get around but cannot be left out in the elements! This construction will be taking place in July. Let me know if you can help.

"They defended us, now it's our turn"

As you know Homes for Heroes is a Real Estate program so many of its affiliates are realtor’s. One of the many skills they must possess is an eye for space. When most people feel it is time to sell their home they do not think of all the years of clutter they have accumulated. Why would they? They are comfortable enough living there so why would it bother anyone else? The answer is in the question. They are not everyone else. As hard as it is to believe this, people are different and have different tastes. Think of your distant aunt and why your parents would never go to visit her. Something to do with owning 9 cats or some such crazy thing. To poor old aunt Bertha, it would never occur to her that cats leave a smell that most people find stomach turning.

Realtor’s will tell home owners they have to make their home attractive to the largest block of people. They can do this by cleaning, removing clutter, painting and repairing the most obvious things. Who would think it normal to have a teetering toilet? The biggest and easiest thing a home owner can do though is getting rid of clutter.

Can you find the toaster? If you can't how can potential buyers?

Make the counters counters again instead of appliance storage. You know that book shelf that now holds hats, mittens, assorted boxes and empty bottles? Make it a book shelf again. That front closet? Yup, just have a few coats in it and nothing else. This makes the home look tidy and neat and maybe just comfortable enough for some one else.

Most times that works, but there are a few home owners that look the realtor in the eye and say “And just what am I supposed to do with all this S&#@T!” If the realtor is smart they just get up and leave, but if they are like most realtors, (lighten up guys) they will let the home owner know that there are many options out there to deal with the excess clutter. Box it up and put it in the basement in nice neat piles is one way and it shows how much storage is down there. Another is renting a storage pod. A pod is like an empty semi truck that shows up at your door, you put your crap in it and it drives away till you want it back again. The bold realtor suggests renting a dumpster for a week. The smart realtor will show them this neat trick.

Can the kitty litter box go here?

Turning your stairs into storage space. It is not that hard and not that expensive. Just make sure that you don’t leave them open during an open house. The home owner and insurance company may frown on the injury claim.

Another great space saving idea is found in this video. For the Mid West, an in-ground pool does not always help in selling a home and sometimes it can hamper. We can only use them about 2 weeks a year and Dad doesn’t like cleaning them all summer for just two weeks. In the winter they are just a big eye sore in the middle of your back yard. So this video shows what can be done with that pool. Turn it into an outdoor rec room.

Putting in a pool table in a pool is appropriate. I think the one below would be perfect. Easy in and easy out when the home sells.

Another fine example of Recycle, Reuse, Replenish.

Any other ideas on saving space? Let me know and I will get it in the blog.

The coolest outdoor furniture is about to be divulged. Making a couch out of your lawn.

I'm thinking dandelions for a nice head rest.

A couple of years ago we had a new neighbor move in across the street. He is a nice guy and is doing his best to get the neighbors all talking to one another. God bless him. One of the things he does is sit out on his new front yard patio and wave and talk to all that walk by. It was catching so I also put in a front yard patio. We are both in the middle of the block so we catch everyone coming and going. But I think I will top him this year with my own dirt/grass couch. For all you others that find this just as exciting I will also provide you with the directions. These are courtesy of Inhabit.com

If yer tryin to figure out what to do with that pile o' dirt by the garage.

Is there more? You bet, but I can’t cover it all in one day.Something about picking up old tires at the local garage and then having them sit around in the yard doing nothing except making nice mosquito condos. Like I have never finished a project before. I figure I will need about 16 car tires and two tractor tires to get done what I have planned and the Gas station is eager to deliver old used tires for free!!